Saturday, April 29, 2006

I give you the statement of State Rep. Mike Shelton:"During states of emergency, I think police need total control. They don’t need to worry who has guns and who doesn’t. If the governor calls for Oklahomans to relinquish their guns, the public needs to do so,”.

This was his comment on a bill that would prohibit the kind of confiscation order that happened in New Orleans. "Shelton said his battle is not over, and he intends not only to ask the governor to veto HB2696 but also to overturn the stand-your-ground bill."

Ok, it's sad to know that an elected rep of this state is such a statist asshat. Apparently he thinks that if someone threatens your life outside your home you should have to run for your life no matter what, only being legally able to use lethal force if you can't run any further. And from this we know that he thinks your 2nd Amendment rights should be cancellable by a stroke of the governors' pen. I may have to dig into it and see how this clown voted on the SDA and the Make My Day laws; if these are any indication, he was probably against those, too. Can't have the peasants thinking too much of themselves, now can we?

"That was the idea in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, when police confiscated guns from residents even if they were legal. This new Oklahoma law removes that power." Let's see, a bunch of citazens held at gunpoint and their property and means of defense stolen- property which the city of NO is STILL trying to avoid giving back- while security guards hired by the wealthy are walking around unmolested even though they've got AR or M16 rifles and sidearms... Awfully selective 'total control', wasn't it, Rep.?

As I say further proof that no state is without idiot politicians who worship at the altar of Power.

Well, it gets worse. Or just more blatant. Saw this this morning and couldn't write 'till now, and the Geek beat me to it, but I need to say my piece anyway:

John McCain is a corrupt statist politician with no concern for anything but his personal advancement. This little jerk wants into the White House as occupant so bad he will sell out anything and everything, including the oath he's taken more than once. You know, the one about PROTECTING the Constitution as opposed to TRASHING IT?

""He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform....I know that money corrupts....I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government."

Friday, April 28, 2006

It's been dry for months here. Not just dry, damn dry, way below normal average. The state has had some relief over the last month or so, but mostly in the southeast and east; here in the central area rain would build to the west & southwest, as normal, then wind up splitting and moving around us. Frustrating as hell.

But today it all came together and some actual, good rain came in. And better yet, it's been what I think the Navajo call a female rain- no thunder & lightning except some rumbles in the distance, light to moderate rain with some breaks, the kind that has time to soak in and prepare the soil for what follows with less runoff than you'd expect for as dry as it's been. Absolutely wonderful.

The last round just moved through, some nice moderate fall. My rain guage showed about 1/4 inch when I got home from work, but the pecan has grown & leafed out enough it may have shaded it somewhat from the fall, so I moved it out into the yard; come morning we'll see what the total is. And it's supposed to give us some more overnight. Everything should green up wonderfully, and the threat of wildfires should be pretty much knocked on its ass for a while at least.

Speaking of my pecan tree, it's now about 7' tall, pretty green leaves all over. I mentioned a long time ago that I'd planted this the summer after I moved in, and sweated through that first winter wondering if it'd survive. It did in fine shape. And the blackberry I planted last spring is leafed out and has some blossoms; I may get some berries off it, if I can keep the birds and squirrels off long enough.

Huge problems with health care and law enforcement being run into the ground by illegal aliens, illegals who demand that driving tests and VOTING BALLOTS for Gods' sake be written in Spanish so they don't have to bother learning English(and the bastards shouldn't be voting in any case).

Now a bunch of sympathizers have rewritten our National Anthem- in Spanish, of course- to show support to the illegals(but that makes me a hatemonger, according to them; they're 'undocumented immigrants'). And various idiots in government, particularly in California(no surprise), are doing crap like this to help the clowns.

Got news for you people. Screwing with our Anthem does NOT give us sympathy for you. Telling us we're invaders and this is YOUR land just pisses us off. And waving Mexican flags while claiming you're loyal Americans just pisses us off more. And having a bunch of racist clowns like La Voz de Aztlan threatening a 'reconquest' and spreading shit like that in the 'press release' makes us want to add a strip of mines to the fence.

To borrow what someone else said, come here legally; learn English; and come to be an American and you're welcome. Come here illegally, demand we change to make you happy and threaten us, and you're cordially invited to get the fuck out of this country.

The smiling FedEx man delivered the new rotors for the Vulcan this morning. Now have new rotors and pads in front, and new shoes in the rear. Let's just say there's a noticeable difference in slowing down and stopping. MUCH better.

Fired the forge for the first time in a while today, and got a bit done. Now I need to make a last pass through the yard and make sure I put everything up, as they're expecting some rain to move in late tonight. We're hoping. Hell, if I thought it would help pull it in I'd go out in the dark and wash the truck and the bike. And leave the truck sitting out in the open.

Meant to mention this the other day. There are two big holly trees- they're too tall to call 'bushes'- in the front, one on each side of the door. Went out the other day and heard buzzing. Looked closer, and both bushes were swarming with honeybees

Ever tried to take pictures of busy bees? Little bastards won't hold still. I've always liked these critters; my dads' father used to keep several hives, and when we visited I'd watch them going in & out and feeding on the clover in the field. Helped rob the hives once. Honey fresh off the comb, God that was good!

Speaking of forgework and metal, anybody starts talking about going all the way back to the 'good old days', kick them in the ass. I had to drill two holes through 3/4" hex stock, which with a drill press and a titanium nitride bit(with cutting oil, of course) took a couple of minutes per hole taking it easy. Doing that by hand? Not if I can help it.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I'd looked these things over a number of times, but always held off on buying one. Heard lots of good things about them: accurate, well-made. But kept putting it off, even though prices were good.

Well, when I was in Texas a couple of weeks ago I went by Military Gun Supply in Fort Worth to look around, and noticed a BIG area of one wall empty. That had been full of K31 rifles last time I was down. I asked about it, and the guy said a lot of people had decided to buy them all of a sudden. After I got home I checked around on some of the gunboards and read several references that the supply of them was running out.

So I checked a few places, and found that AIM Surplus had some for a hundred dollars listed as "Excellent bores, expect stock and finish wear". So I ordered one, and it came in today:

Swiss K31 in the(as Kim puts it) manly 7.5mm Swiss cartridge. Square-profile blade front sight, notch rear marked from 100 meters to 1500. That ring in the back of the bolt is the cocking piece and safety(such as it is); when cocked, pull it back and turn clockwise about 1/8 turn. And it's a straight-pull bolt, grab the handle and pull straight back; it unlocks, the body rotates to disengage the lugs and it slides back. Push forward to close.

Looked it over real good. First thing, not much grease on it. Second, there are a bunch of little dents and a few dings in the wood, but not bad at all. Third, crown is shiny; wings of the front sight worn shiny at the top; barrel just behind the sight has a slightly shiny patch; blueing on the receiver is quite nice; the usual worn edges on the trigger guard and barrel bands; overall quite nice condition. Now, even though AIM has done well for me in the past, comes the part that really makes me nervous: is the bore as promised? Open the bolt and look down, and yuck, it's icky in there. But it looks like mostly grease, so to the table.

Dry patch through, which came out nasty. Oily patch, then a dry patch and look again and shazam! Beautiful! Mirror bright, sharp rifling, you could use a picture of this to illustrate 'excellent bore'! Much relieved, I took the thing apart(surplusrifle.com has a section on the rifle in general and the bolt) and found the condition to be very good. Tight, fast working action. And on the barrel & receiver covered by the stock, the only worn area of the bluing is on the barrel where the front edge of the stock & handguard bear on it; a band a little over an inch wide. Otherwise, looks damn near new.

I mentioned the straight-pull bolt, three other different things about it. One, to adjust windage you move the front sight, but not side-to-side; it's in a diagonal track in the sight base. so you drift it back and it moves to the left, forward and moves to the right. Second, the magazine holds six rounds instead of five or ten. Stripper clips are available, made of metal and paper(I'll have to get a few). And the trigger mechanism is unique: trigger, sear and a link are fitted together as a unit with a coil spring with long arms providing tension. The link fits over a pin at the rear and the sear slides vertically. I'll try to take a picture of it later, it's a very nice design.

One last thing: I dry-fired it a few times, and wow! Long first-stage takeup, solid stop, then a clean break at- I'd guess- about 3.5 pounds or so. No drag, no creep. It's like the M39 I wrote about a while back, I've handled expensive new rifles with inferior triggers to this.

So now I need time to hit the range. I've got some ammo and it's cleaned, oiled and ready. After sighting in and testing, I'll kitty-litter the stock- it's got not enough grease soaked in to be a real problem, enough that it has that smell and feel to it- and do a little refinishing to it, but the metal I'll leave alone, it's quite nice as is. Range report will follow when circumstances allow.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Apparently he's been sucking up to various Democrats and news weenies so long his brain has suffered from oxygen deprivation, so I've got two questions for him:1. Do you remember a period in history we generally call "the Seventies"?2. Do you remember Jimmy Carter and his 'Windfall Profits Tax'?

Yeah, that was just such a wonderful success, wasn't it? Did so much good, didn't it, you friggin' idiot?

Among the other 'wonderful' effects of this mess: there's a thing called a stripper well. It's a well that produces enough to make it worth keeping in operation(at the current prices; if prices go up enough, it's worth further development), just. Lots of people with some land in some states have a stripper well on it belonging to some oil company, who pays them a percentage every month for the oil that's pumped out. There was a lady at my employer who had one on her land, and every month it gave her & her husband about(as I recall) $70. Then the full effect of Carter's "punish the theiving oil companies" tax kicked in, and that month she displayed the check they'd received: fifty some-odd cents. All the rest taken in "Windfall Profits Tax". I kid you not.

So now, having either forgotten or not caring about the history of this kind of crap, this jackass, in company of the rest of the herd he's sucking up to, wants to do it again. So I wonder why a: Specter doesn't just change the 'R' after his name to 'D' and be honest and b: why the President and co. don't kick him in the ass for being the treacherous, untrustworthy little shit he is.

By the way, for some further background on the cost of gas, check out this at Wizbang, on how Specter and his greedy little friends have their prints all over the high price.

Monday, April 24, 2006

House Bill 2615 passed in the House a few days ago. According to the article in the Sunday Oklahoman(not available online unless you buy an account, which I'm not doing) it's patterned after the law passed in Florida last year. In the article it says it expands the Make My Day law-which allows use of deadly force "to protect themselves from someone who breaks into their home, whether the intruder was using deadly force".

It also allows:Drivers or passengers to use deadly force if someone is trying to car jack their vehicle.Guests in a home to use deadly force to defend themselves and their acquaintances.Ny understanding is that if attacked by someone using deadly force, you can use the same to protect yourself, "But the bill establishes situations where people can use deadly force to defend themselves even if the perpetrator isn't using deadly force."

No, haven't read the whole thing. Didn't even know it this bill was around 'till I saw this in the Sunday paper. It says the OK Association of Chiefs of Police have some concerns but don't object to the idea itself. From what I'm reading, I don't really understand their concerns, that a: "the legislation doesn't jeopardize the lives of plainclothes officers or officers trying to execute search warrants" and b: "wants to make sure officers can detain people after a shooting to determine whether a shooting was legal". ??? If an officer identifies himself to serve a warrant, the bill would not affect that that I can see. And they already have the power to detain people after a shooting; unless there's some wierd wording in here somewhere, that would not be affected.

There are the usual suspects unhappy about it, of course. The were only two House members who voted against it, Opio Toure(D) and Darrel Gilbert(D). I think Gilbert was, and I know Toure was one of the big opponents of the OK Self-Defense Act, the 'shall-issue' concealed-carry law that passed a few years back. And for the same reasons: "There will be bodies in the streets, blood running in the gutters, it will be like the Wild West all over again!!!" and so forth. No, that's not a direct quote, it does seem to sum their thoughts up. "Toure also is concerned the bill would give young people the idea using guns is the way to resolve conflicts", which I think was one of his objections to the SDA. And from Gilbert, "Gilbert said his objection is that anybody could use the law as an excuse to kill.

It's back to the good ol' West having shootouts in the street", Gilbert said".

Same objections, same fear-mongering. Same crap that hasn't happened anywhere such laws have passed.

So now to the Senate, and we'll see what happens.

Additional: unless I'm mistaken, Toure was the guy who, during debate on the SDA, said that if it passed 'more blacks will get shot' or 'be killed'. Been a while, so I don't remember exactly. It does give an interesting window into his thought processes, doesn't it?

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Specifically, the sorry excuses for law officers committing the thefts:After a lawsuit by the NRA and the SAF, plus contempt of court citations, NOLA jackasses reluctantly admitted that they were in possession of a thousand-plus confiscated firearms.Thousand. Not 'tens', not 'hundreds'. Thousand.ARE YOU BLOODY WELL ****ING ME?!Those knuckle-dragging, nit-witted, mouse-dicked, pea-brained, lard-arsed, desk-driving, cork-screwed little dacoits with delusions of adequacy must have been running around stealing guns at warp speed!Did they bloody well organize shifts for this? "You , you and you: loot Wal-Mart. You, you , and you: steal guns from any citizen who'll let you get by with it."That's ... that's ... I really don't have words to express how I feel towards public servants (who are sworn to protect the citizens) stealing from those citizens their only means of protection. WHILE, I might add, LOOTING EVERY FECKING WAL-MART IN SIGHT. ON CAMERA.Sweet evil Loki, y'all blotted your Eternal Copybook something fierce, I'm here to tell you.

You really need to read the whole thing here for the full flavor. It's noted in the comments that it wasn't just the LE clowns, but a bunch of National Guard also, including this:"A close friend, "G" is an Army Guard officer who was on the ground in N.O. 4 days after Katrina. I spoke with him every other day or so for several weeks, and listened to him agonize about taking guns away. He's very pro-2nd. He was given lists compiled by the rescue and city people as to the address location of firearms, and detailed to go and get them. He was also ordered to confiscate ANY firearms he saw, anywhere. A week later, he was given part of one of the worst wards to control. He was relieved because he saw only criminals from then on, and had NO problem taking such down. The NRA contacted me around Katrina+25 to learn who "G" was, and would he be willing to talk to the NRA lawyers. Serving officer? No way!"

Two things in this. First, the 'rescue and city people' had lists of who owned what firearms and sent people to get them("No, the registration is not for confiscation, oh no! It's for public safety!"); I have to wonder if this was all city/state records, or did some dickhead call someone at BATFE and ask for records?Second, at the time I read several comments at different places from military/former military stating that if a superior had ordered them to do this, their first response would have been to say, in proper language, "Sir, are you out of your mind?". Maybe some did and it kept the level of theft down, but it seems many, maybe most, did not; and they carried out their orders to steal the only protection people had.

I'm still so damn pissed about this it's terrible. I keep remembering that OKNG troop basically saying "it's terrible, but I've got my orders" while holding some homeowners at gunpoint so their home could be officially looted.

E-mail me

at elmtreeforge at att point net

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.